Zhou Xiaochuan

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT ZHOU XIAOCHUAN - PAGE 3

HONG KONG: China's inflation slowed from the fastest in almost two years and money supply growth moderated in January, easing pressure on the central bank to raise interest rates to cool the world's fourth-largest economy. Consumer prices rose 2.2% from a year earlier after climbing 2.8% in December, the government said. M2, the broadest measure of money supply, rose 15.9%, after gaining 16.9% in the previous month, according to a statement posted on the website of the People's Bank of China.

BEIJING: China will balance "relatively quick" economic growth with inflation control in 2012, amid rising uncertainty about the world economic recovery, said President Hu Jintao in a speech on Satuday. The government will speed up economic structural adjustment and give priority to improve people's well-being , Hu said in the five-minute New Year's Eve speech carried on state television and radio. "We will continue to manage well the relationship between stable and relatively quick economic growth, structural adjustment and inflation," Hu said.

SHANGHAI: Chinese equities slumped into the second bear market in nine months this week. Pan Weiting says there's no better place to put her money than in stocks. Pan shelved plans to buy an apartment after real estate prices jumped the most on record and the government banned loans for third homes to cool the economy. Interest on the 400,000 yuan ($59,000) she has in her bank account is being eaten away by rising inflation, and the country's regulations limit her investment choices to property or domestic equities.

BEIJING: With China, the world's second largest economy, facing a slowdown, Premier Li Keqiang on Tuesday that said the government would now focus on infrastructure development of the remote western region to spur growth. China is betting on its western development programme to lead a new round of economic growth as the government is mulling "differentiated" policies for the region that will feature huge spending on infrastructure, Li said while on tour of the region. "We will roll out more preferential policies tailored for the western region concerning infrastructure projects, to accelerate the construction and upgrading of rail and road networks ," official media quoted Li as saying.

BEIJING: China could adopt a more flexible exchange rate policy once the global economy is back on a sure footing, a central bank adviser said on Friday, as pressure intensifies on Beijing to let the yuan rise. In an opinion piece titled "Toying with yuan won't help US", Fan Gang warned a revaluation of the currency would not by itself resolve economic problems in the United States such as high unemployment and a massive trade deficit. Fan, the only academic member of the People's Bank of China's monetary policy committee, also pointed out that Beijing has domestic factors to consider, such as the need to create jobs in the world's number three economy.

BEIJING: China should adapt a "new norm" for its economic growth and be "cool-minded" in dealing with it amid slowdown in the world's second-largest economy, President Xi Jinping has said. "China is still in a significant period of strategic opportunity. We must boost our confidence, adapt to the new normal condition based on the characteristics of China's economic growth in the current phase and stay cool-minded," Xi said while touring central Henan Province yesterday.

SINGAPORE: China's multi-trillion yuan plan to boost its economy will keep growth above seven percent but its global impact will be limited, the Asia chief of US bank Morgan Stanley warned on Thursday. Stephen Roach said without the four trillion yuan (586 billion US dollar) stimulus package, China's gross domestic product growth could fall to six percent next year due to lower demand for Chinese exports in major economies. China's GDP, which grew close to 12 percent last year, slowed to 9.0 percent in the third quarter this year, according to government figures, as shipments to the United States fell amid the world financial crisis.

As China's central bank chief looked out on the annual gathering of his nation's legislature in the Great Hall of the People in March, he had every reason to look forward with confidence, even optimism. True, the world's second-biggest economy was decelerating. Yet People's Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan was finally making headway with long-sought financial system reforms designed to put China's debt-fuelled, $10-trillion economy on a more stable footing. Zhou said he'd try to eliminate caps on bank deposits in 2015, furthering the liberalisation of interest rates.

SEOUL: Asian stock markets moved in tight ranges Friday amid encouraging news about the U.S. economy and indications Chinese policymakers are reluctant to raise interest rates. Government reports this week in the United States on layoffs, factory production and consumer spending as well as a tax cut plan poised for approval by lawmakers are spurring economists to predict hiring and housing in the world's largest economy will gain strength in 2011. China, meanwhile, is trying to control its fast-growing economy and douse rising inflation, which has led to speculation it may follow a recent increase in bank reserve requirements with another interest rate hike.

China will step up measures to curb excess cash in the economy and may use more or bigger rate increases to prevent overheating, central bank chief Zhou Xiaochuan said. "We don't rule out steeper or more frequent moves if necessary," Zhou, governor of the People's Bank of China, said during an interview with reporters on Thursday at the Communist Party Congress in Beijing. Controls so far "haven't been very effective". The bank will keep using a mix of policy tools, including rate increases, higher reserve ratios and more bill sales, he said.